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For thousands of consumers, proving they are legal U.S. residents so they can keep their Obamacare plans can be a bigger health care challenge than affording them. Documentation issues over immigration or citizenship status ensnared more than a half million people who bought plans on HealthCare.gov last year. Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Burwell noted 85% fewer people had their plans terminated for these "data matching" issues for the first three months of 2016 — the most recent information available — than the first quarter of 2015. (O'Donnell, 9/8)

The cost of health insurance plans offered under the Affordable Care Act will jump 20 percent or more next year under rates to be announced Friday by Maryland regulators. The CEO of Maryland's largest insurer defended the hefty rate increases and said the federal law that expanded health insurance to most Americans needs to be changed if it is to remain sustainable. (McDaniels, 9/9)

Thousands of people who buy subsidized health insurance will face substantial premium increases — an average of 21 percent — if they want to keep the only plan that gives them access to certain prestigious Boston hospitals. That insurer, Neighborhood Health Plan, has raised its rates dramatically for customers of the Massachusetts Health Connector, the state agency that serves people who don’t get insurance from an employer. (Freyer, 9/9)